1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to suture anchoring devices for use in orthopedic surgical procedures requiring attachment of a suture onto a bone surface.
2. Prior Art
In an orthopedic surgical procedure it is often necessary to attach a suture to a bone surface for use in connecting a tendon or ligament end thereto. Previously, such attachment involved driving a staple into a bone surface with a suture fitted between the staple legs, the staple web fixing the suture to the bone surface. Such procedure was often difficult to perform particularly in areas of limited access and often necessitated a placement of a ligament at less than a most desirable location.
A first patent issued to the present inventors in a Suture Anchor Assembly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,100, provided a solution to the problem of fitting a suture onto a bone surface within a confined space. This patent teaches an anchor that is a combination of a drill end with self tapping screw threads formed around the anchor body and provides for attaching a suture end thereto. This arrangement includes a driver that is turned by a conventional drill arrangement turning the stud into a bone. Whereas, the present invention involves a pointed suture anchor that is intended to be driven as by applying a hammer force through a driver for seating which suture anchor in a bone.
Additionally, one of the present inventors was a co-inventor of a suture anchor device, in a patent entitled, Suture Anchor System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,255, which arrangement provides for drilling an outwardly tapering hole into a bone and fitting and expanding an acorn shaped anchored therein that includes a suture end fixed thereto. Which arrangement is unlike the present invention that does not involve drilling into a bone surface prior to driving the anchor therein. Similar to the above and distinct from the present invention, an anchor device for installation in a prepared bone cavity is also shown in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,974, that includes a bone seating arrangement that is unlike the present invention in its design and functioning. A screw and washer combination for clamping a ligament against a bone surface is shown in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,351, that is structurally and functionally unlike the present invention.
The above are examples of anchor devices for turning into a bone or for fitting into a hole formed into a bone. Unlike these and like devices, the present invention is arranged to be driven into a bone and is configured for locking therein against an anticipated tensile force as could be applied to the connected suture. Of course, a number of devices, including a staple, have been utilized for securing a ligament, suture, or the like, onto a bone surface that have involved applying a hammer force to such device so as to drive it into a bone surface. Another patent by the present inventors in a Channel Ligament Clamp, U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,420, is an example of a ligament clamp with spaced pins for driving into a bone surface, clamping a ligament thereto. Additional to the above set out clamp arrangement of the present inventors, examples of other clamps for utilization in the performance of a medical procedure are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,146,022, 4,592,346, and 4,793,335, and examples of staple and pin type devices for use in the practice of a medical procedure are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,047,524, 4,263,903, 4,278,091, 4,400,833, 4,414,967, 4,438,769, 4,456,006, 4,711,234, 4,759,765 and U.K. Patent, No. GB 2,118,662 none of which staple and pin arrangements have involved a harpoon pointed anchor like that of the present invention and are functionally dissimilar therefrom.